Marketing für Lebensmittel und Agrarprodukte

Dr. Sarah Iweala

Sarah's research focuses on food demand and consumer decision-making in the transformation towards more sustainable agri-food systems. She is particularly interested in how consumers respond to sustainability challenges, changing food environments and innovations in food and agricultural production.

Her research comprises three closely connected areas. First, she studies food demand and sustainable consumer choice, examining how social, ethical, environmental and product-related attributes influence food choices and consumers’ economic valuations. Her research in this area includes work on social sustainability and fairness in food value chains, product origin and perceived environmental impacts as well as the role of ethical motives in consumer decision-making.
Second, she investigates food-system innovation and changing consumption patterns. Her work examines consumer acceptance and demand for alternatives to animal-sourced foods, including plant-based, fermentation-based, cultivated, and hybrid products, as well as agricultural innovations such as Smart Farming technologies. Third, her research addresses the broader interaction between consumer demand, markets and sustainability transformations. This includes the role of food companies and retailers, social sustainability and corporate responsibility in agri-food value chains and the effects of different market and policy interventions on more sustainable food consumption.

Methodologically, her research is rooted in empirical and experimental consumer economics. She combines discrete choice experiments, experimental auctions, survey experiments and qualitative approaches to study consumer preferences, choices and willingness to pay.

Sarah received her doctorate in agricultural economics from the University of Göttingen as a member of the Research Training Group GlobalFood. Her doctoral research examined the role of warm glow and other ethical motives in consumers’ valuation of more sustainable food products. From 2021 to 2025, she also worked with the Scientific Advisory Board on Agricultural Policy, Food and Consumer Health Protection at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, contributing to science-based policy advice on sustainable food systems.

Research interests:

  • Food demand and consumer decision-making

    • Sustainable food consumption

      • Consumer preferences and economic valuations

        • Food innovation and dietary change

          • Alternatives to animal-sourced foods

            • Social sustainability and fairness in agri-food value chains

              • Experimental and behavioural consumer research

                • Transformation of agri-food systems

                  • Research projects:

                  • agri:change – Future through change: Sustainability transformation in the agricultural and food industry in Lower Saxony
                    The transformation of agriculture is a task for society as a whole. As part of the five-year joint project agri:change, science, practice, politics and society are working together to develop ways to achieve a resilient, sustainable agricultural and food system. The state of Lower Saxony is funding the project with around 25 million euros from the zukunft.niedersachsen programme together with the Volkswagen Foundation.
                    The project aims to shape transformation processes, use resources efficiently, improve animal welfare, open up new business areas and promote acceptance and participation. Through transdisciplinary cooperation, practical real-world laboratories and dialogue with stakeholders, the project contributes to ecologically, economically and socially sustainable agriculture in Lower Saxony.
                  • TRANSFORM
                    The impact of the climate crisis already changes the type of crops that can be grown in certain cli-mate regions. To support the adaptation of agricultural production to challenges of climate change, TRANSFORM aims to innovate climate-resilient crop rotations. To do so, this Horizon Europe project focuses on a variety of stakeholders, regional food chain conditions and the practical adaptability by farmers and agricultural consultants.
                  • LaNdwirtschaft 4.0 Ohne chemisch-synthetischen PflanzenSchutz (NOcsPS)
                    A sustainable and high-quality supply of food and biomass is a central societal concern. The use of chemically synthetic plant protection products (csPPP) is increasingly criticized, particularly due to residues in food and risks to biodiversity. The goal is to establish Agriculture 4.0, which avoids csPPP, follows biological principles, and applies mineral fertilizers in a targeted manner to maintain soil fertility. This requires a fundamental reorientation of crop production and comprehensive interdisciplinary research across multiple spatial scales. The research consortium formed by the University of Hohenheim (UHOH), the University of Göttingen (UGOE), and the Julius Kühn Institute (JKI) aims to develop, analyze, and describe NOcsPPP farming systems in comparison to other production systems. These comparisons are conducted through system, exact, and on-farm trials at plot, field, farm, and landscape levels, and are assessed from ecological, economic, and social perspectives.
                  • Future of Nutrition in Lower Saxony (ZERN)
                    ZERN is a research and transfer network initiated by the University of Göttingen, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover Foundation and the German Institute of Food Technology in Quakenbrück, which aims to support the transformation of the agricultural and food system in Lower Saxony. The results of the research alliance should enable the sustainable production, processing and marketing of food.

                    • RTG 1666: "GlobalFood" Transformation of Global Agri-Food Systems (completed)
                      GlobalFood combined approaches from agribusiness management, agricultural economics, development economics, and experimental economics in a novel way, to analyze the trends, driving forces, and implications of the agri-food system transformation and train a future generation of first-class researchers and policymakers in this international field.

                      • Selected publications:

                      • Meyer, D., Spiller, A. and Iweala, S. (2025) Perceived environmental impact of food: Upgrading of domestic products and downgrading of imported products; in Food Quality and Preference, 105718, https://10.1016/j.foodqual.2025.105718
                      • von Heyden, J., von Bülow, V., Spiller, A. and Iweala, S. (2025) Effects of the German Due Diligence Act on Supplier Selection in the Agri-Food Sector; in: German Journal of Agricultural Economics, Volume 74, https://doi.org/10.52825/gjae.v74i.2518
                      • von Grafenstein L., Iweala, S., Pahl, S. and Ruml, A. (2025) Emotional priming for sustainable consumption? The effects of social media content on the valuation of chocolate; in: Q Open, Volume 5, Issue 1, 2025, qoaf003, https://doi.org/10.1093/qopen/qoaf003

                        • Wieck, C., Spiller, A., Nieberg, H., Rudloff, B., Iweala, S., Balmann, A., Birner, R., Bosy-Westphal, A., Buyken, A. E., Döring, T., Feindt, P., Götz, K.-U., Linseisen, J., Nöthlings, U., Martinez, J., Pischetsrieder, M., Renner, B., Voget-Kleschin, L., Weingarten, P., & Wesseler, J. (2023) Neue Sorgfaltspflichten für Unternehmen des Agrar- und Ernährungssektors: Empfehlungen zu aktuellen Gesetzesentwicklungen; in: Berichte über Landwirtschaft - Zeitschrift für Agrarpolitik und Landwirtschaft, https://doi.org/10.12767/buel.vi237

                          • Birner, R., Linseisen, J., Arens-Azevêdo, U., Balmann, A., Biesalski, H. K., Bosy-Westphal, A., Buyken, A., Döring, T., Feindt, P., Götz, K.-U., Iweala, S., Martínez, J., Nieberg, H., Nöthlings, U., Pischetsrieder, M., Renner, B., Spiller, A., Voget-Kleschin, L., Weingarten, P., Wesseler, J. Wieck, C. (2023) Ernährungsarmut unter Pandemiebedingungen; in: Berichte über Landwirtschaft - Zeitschrift für Agrarpolitik und Landwirtschaft , https://doi.org/10.12767/buel.vi236.468